Joakim Soria
Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a 1-0 fastball off former Tiger Joakim Soria into the stands in right field, a walk-off home run that gave the Tigers a 4-2 victory and the series win over the Kansas City Royals.
Starter Yordano Ventura allowed just two runs and eight hits in seven innings.
The Royals led 2-0 but Ventura was called for a balk, allowing a run to score with the bases loaded in the third.
Ventura gave up a drive to the gap in right-center by Nick Castellanos that turned into a triple when the Royals had issues getting the ball back in. Castellanos came home on a wild pitch.
Kansas City opened the scoring in the second on an RBI double by Cheslor Cuthbert, and Eric Hosmer added a run-scoring single in the third.
Fans have been down on Soria, but the Royals have won 26 of the 41 games that Soria has appeared in. His ERA of 3.60 is strong considering he’s only pitched 40 innings. He also have three wins and 12 holds to his name this same. Short relievers are much like offensive lineman in football. The only time you notice them is when they do something wrong. We hear the lineman’s name when he’s called for holding, but we miss his blocks from the previous plays.
On June 19th, Soria pitched a scoreless inning in a win over the Tigers and his ERA dipped to a season low 2.94 after it was in the mid 5’s in early May.
